US speed skating prodigy Jordan Stolz becomes youngest ever world champion

• US teenager wins 500m at world single distance championships
• Stolz, 18, expected to contend for 1000m and 1500m gold medals

Jordan Stolz, the 18-year-old from rural Wisconsin who has been hailed as America's next speed skating star, continued his meteoric rise on Friday by winning the men's 500m to become the youngest gold medalist in the history of the world single distance championships.

The budding American talent completed the all-out sprint for one and a quarter laps of the oval in a time of 37.10sec, winning by a yawning margin of 0.36sec over the defending world champion, Canada's Laurent Dubreuil, at the famed Thialf ice arena in Heerenveen.